February 2024 Desk of the Dean

2024 has started with outstanding accolades and achievements from our faculty, staff, alums, supporters, and students!

Most notably, CoBT programs received high rankings by the U.S. News & World Report. Our our undergraduate business program ranked No. 1, and our B.S. in computer science ranked No. 2. Our online non-MBA business graduate degrees (MMIS & MLSCM) are second only to the University of Georgia statewide, and No. 43 on U.S. News & World Report’s overall list. Georgia College and UGA are the only two schools in Georgia to rank in the top 100 on U.S. News & World Report’s list. This is a testament to the hard work happening on our campus, and we are so incredibly proud.

Our online MBA, which is part of the WebMBA consortium, is No. 94 nationally and also second in Georgia. Again, Georgia College was one of only two schools in the state to rank in the top 100 for online MBA programs.

The Bunting College of Business & Technology doesn't stop with high rankings, though. We also invited a retired CIA Senior Director, Greg Lane, to speak to our students about artificial intelligence, began a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, and held accounting and I.T. career fairs. 2024 will be a game changer for the CoBT!

Business Outreach Coordinator

Nancy Finney is a writer, editor, and communications strategist. Ms. Finney previously worked with Wiley Publishing Company, University of Denver, the National Environmental Health Association, Marriott Hotels, the United States Department of Labor, and various statewide and regional political campaigns across the U.S. In her new role here in the CoBT, Nancy is responsible for external relations, event management, graduate program marketing, board management, and various other tasks to support the Dean’s Office and the college.

In early February, the GCSU Foundation Board had the opportunity to meet students and tour our new Bobcat Trading Room. This software allows finance professionals to utilize Bloomberg terminals to analyze financial market data and provides great hands-on learning opportunities for students in our new finance major.

Cassie Napier, CoBT Graduate Recruiter, our graduate faculty coordinators, and our graduate assistants have been quite busy engaging prospective students for upcoming semesters. Between the Accounting Career Fair, IT Career Fair, and state-wide outreach, our Graduate Programs continue to grow. Our latest rankings will only propel our graduate programs forward. With an overall increase in applicants for nearly every major and ongoing networking at various conferences and events statewide, the future of our graduate programs is bright!

Dr. Rui Kang and Dr. Swinton met with Dr. Stacey Waller’s K-5 pre-service students to introduce them to the Georgia Economic Understanding Standards and material available to them to teach the standards. They reviewed state standards, introduced the students to assistance available to them, and worked through a lesson plan about financial planning that is appropriate for second graders and aligns with state standards.

• We began a collaboration with The Bottom Line: A Business Blueprint for DEI event on campus hosted by the Office of Inclusive Excellence (OIE) in collaboration with the Milledgeville Chamber of Commerce by seeking presenters and session facilitators. This event takes place on February 16th from 9 am to 1 pm in the Peabody Auditorium.
  
• The first cohort for the solar technology and entrepreneurship workforce development program began and was awarded NABCEP accreditation (The North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners®), the gold standard in solar technology education.
• The Center has begun developing plans to launch an incubator on campus in the university library. We are actively in the design phase for the space and are working to secure additional funding to support the project.
• We are working with The Market Basket, a local food store specializing in seafood, to develop an updated business plan for them to expand their current operations to include prepared meals to go.
• We’ve begun partnering with the Center for Economic Education to assist with the Minority Youth in Business program this summer. We aim to have a web page and online application working by the end of the month.
• We are in negotiations with a blockchain based company to help build out a web platform for their NFT exchange platform.
• Consulting clients recently included K Grace Real Estate Company's, Near a River, Bobby J Rae, and the Georgia Rural Health Association.

• Accounting and Business Law officially opened its doors to the first batch of Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) tax clients. The program is oriented to those with low income, no experience with tax programs, and questions about filing. The local papers will be covering this exciting program that impacts the community as well as college students at GCSU, Georgia Military College, and Central Georgia Technical College.
• Scott Burns, Lecturer of Accounting, and his crew of student volunteers have already done an excellent job of looking after the first group of clients.
  

• Kendyl Lewis (Economics and Psychology ’21) has been nominated for the Marshall Scholarship, which is a postgraduate scholarship for "intellectually distinguished young Americans [and] their country's future leaders" to study at any university in the United Kingdom. She was one of only two nominees from GCSU.
  
• Jessie Folk presented “Cakeonomics – The development of a new GC2Y,” at the COBRA seminar series on December 7, 2023.
  
• Chris Clark and Brent Evans were featured on the podcast, EconBuff. You can find the episode here: Marijuana and College Athletics Recruiting - EconBuff #48 with Brent Evans and Chris Clark - YouTube.
  
• J. J. Arias was elected as the president of Omicron Delta Epsilon, The International Honors Society for Economics on January 6, 2024, at ODE’s Biennial Meeting.
• Chris Clark presented “Recruiting Via the Cor: A nontraditional Introduction to Economic Thinking,” at the 93rd Annual Meeting of the Southern Economic Association on November 18-20.
• Brooke Conaway presented, “Does Legalizing Recreational Marijuana Affect Drug Overdose Deaths?” at the 93rd Annual Meeting of the Southern Economic Association on November 18-20.
• Brent Evans presented, “Do Casino Match Play Promotions Lead to Problem Gambling?” at the 93rd Annual Meeting of the Southern Economic Association on November 18-20.
• Brent Evans presented, “The Impact of NIL on College Football Recruiting Rankings,” at the 93rd Annual Meeting of the Southern Economic Association on November 18-20.
• Cullen Wallace presented, “Who Claims the Federal Adoption Tax Credit?” at the 93rd Annual Meeting of the Southern Economic Association on November 18-20.
• J. J. Arias presented, “Music Copyright and Covid,” at the 93rd Annual Meeting of the Southern Economic Association on November 18-20.

• Dr. Hussain Alibrahim's paper, Image Forgery Detection Algorithm Using Particle Swarm Optimization, is being published as part of IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence.
• Dr. Ward Risvold has been named the director of the new AI lab.
• Dr. Jeannie Pridmore received a $96,000 Halle Foundation grant to assist with student travel for the International Design Thinking summer program.
• Dr. Jeannie Pridmore has been asked to lead the GCSU AI Taskforce.

After an exhaustive and national search, we are thrilled to announce that Dr. Scott Manley will join the J. Whitney Bunting College of Business & Technology on July 1, 2024 as chair of the Department of Management, Marketing and Logistics (MML) and professor of Management. As chair of one of the largest academic departments on campus, Dr. Manley will lead more than 20 faculty, over 1,000 students, and multiple degree programs. From strategic planning and curricula innovation, Dr. Manley will have a unique opportunity to work alongside the CoBT Dean, the faculty, external stakeholders, and other campus leaders to further advance student success inside and outside of the classroom.

• Our GC Entrepreneurs Club, led by Dr. Duesing, elected Payton Dromey, sophomore, as the new president of the club. Earlier this month, local restauranteurs and owners of Greene's and the Brick, spoke to the club. The new owner of Greene's restaurant, Doug Pendergast, who also spoke with his brother Frank, holds a Harvard MBA and is the former CEO of both Quiznos and Krystal’s.
• Dr. Mehrnaz Hedayati and Dr. Mohsen Mosayebi presented at the National Decision Science Institute (DSI) meeting in November on “Enhancing Supply Chain Resilience through Time-to-Adapt: A Study on Mass Customization Manufacturers and Suppliers in the wake of COVID-19.”
• Implementation of a service learning high impact practice component is now part of an upper-level management course, Operations, Quality, and Supply Chain Management. The course, taught by Dr. Mohsen Mosayebi and Dr. Mehrnaz Hedayati, will help students integrate various operations and supply chain processes for local community organizations.
• Dr. Ania Rynarzewska, was approved for publication: Ghosh, A. K., Bhushan, S., Abidoye, O., Rynarzewska, A. I., Robinson, S., & Sampat, D. (2023). "Evaluating Implementation of NCCN Guideline-Directed Genetic Screening Recommendations for Patients with Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma." As well as: Christopher R. Chew , Dhaval Patel , Ania I. Rynarzewska , Louise Jones “Procalcitonin Use for Predicting Mortality and Morbidity of Patients Diagnosed With Sepsis Within the Intensive Care Unit.”